When I pick a game that is so off, it makes me realize that I'm no expert. I picked Tulane +10 at Duke. The Green Wave were never in it, losing 48-27. Please keep this in mind, if you're playing my suggestions.Please, don't bet the house and don't try to get it all back in one swoop. That's the biggest mistake by any gambler and why the house easily makes money.I did go 2-1 in my top plays, however, nailing the over in Florida-Kentucky and winning on K-State, which beat Miami as a 12-point underdog. That makes me 7-5 on the season.Against the experts, I was 11-6. Jerry Hinnen leads the group with an astounding 50-27 mark. I'm second among the experts at 46-31.I need to admit I didn't study as much this week with the Jewish holiday starting Wednesday night.On to Week 5

TOP HANDICAP PLAYS (All games Saturday)Tulane +10 at DukeKansas State +12.5 at MiamiOVER 43 Florida at Kentucky

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WEEK 3 HANDICAPPING (0-3 last week; 5-4 overall)The three losses:Toledo +20 in an 40-15 loss to Boise StateNevada -6.5 in only a 17-14 win at San Jose StateOVER of 51.5 in Notre Dame 31, Michigan State 13

For those of you crying about what the CBS experts are picking against the spread, well now I see you can check out how they do against the spread and how they do straight up. But I'm sure some will still complain.

As for me, I'm sticking to picking against the spread.

Last week I went 11-7, but it only goes down at 10-7 since the CBS page now doesn't include the unranked Michigan-Notre Dame game. But no worries as that was my bonus play and I'll definitely count it there.

BONUS: At Michigan +3.5 vs. Notre Dame Note: Reason some lines are different is because the experts pull their lines early Wednesday, so to compare my picks with the experts I have to go by what line they're using.

Great finish to the college football season last night.Again, I'd like to point out my comment from my Week 2 picks on Sept. 9:"No. 21 Auburn over Mississippi State (Tigers my sleeper of the year)"And of course -- well not really, based on my season record -- I picked Auburn to win last night. Dodd was the only expert to do so (maybe all the experts except for Chip Patterson should be replaced next season).I was completely wrong on the high-score prediction. I had a feeling it would be low scoring heading into the game, but much easier to say after the fact. Hope no one got burnt on playing the over.FINAL Expert Picks standingsBowls: Patterson 22-13, Jacobi 19-16, Darst 18-17, me 18-17, Dodd 18-17 & Horowitz 17-18Overall: Patterson 258-81, Darst 252-87, me 248-91, Dodd 245-94, Jacobi 244-95 & Horowitz 239-100Underdog moneyline strategyHad you followed this theory, you would have been ahead 112.8 units. And to think it started out 0-5.Remember I said not to play any games of this theory after Dec. 31 (No underdogs won outright after this date). But if you want to know the final tally for all the bowls, here you go:Underdog moneyline strategy0-1/-10: New Mexico: BYU wins as FAV vs. UTEP (+320)0-2/-10/Total -20: Humanitarian: Northern Illinois wins as FAV vs. Fresno State (+111) 0-3/-10/Total -30: New Orleans: Troy wins as FAV vs. Ohio (+110)0-4/-10/Total -40: Beef O’Brady’s: Louisville wins as FAV vs. So. Miss (+120)0-5/-10/Total -50: Poinsettia: San Diego St. wins as FAV vs. Navy (+130)DNP: Las Vegas Bowl: Boise State wins as FAV vs. Utah (+550)1-5/+31/Total -19: Hawaii: Tulsa (+310) wins as DOG vs. HawaiiDNP: Little Caesars: FIU opened as DOG, wins as FAV vs. Toledo1-6/-10/Total -29: Independence: Air Force wins as FAV vs. Ga. Tech (+125)2-6/+13/Total -16: Champs Sports: N.C. State (+130) wins as DOG vs. West Virginia3-6/+13/Total -3: Insight: Iowa (+130) wins as DOG vs. Missouri3-7/-10/Total -13: Military: Maryland wins as FAV vs. East Carolina (+270)DNP: Texas: Illinois opens as DOG, wins as FAV vs. Baylor3-8/-10/Total -23: Alamo: Oklahoma State wins as FAV vs. Arizona (+170)4-8/+25/Total: +2: Armed Forces: Army (+250) wins as DOG vs. SMU5-8/+10.3/Total +12.3: Pinstripe: Syracuse (+103) wins as DOG vs. Kansas StateDNP: Music City: North Carolina wins as PICK vs. Tennessee6-8/+39/Total +51.3: Holiday: Washington (+390) wins as DOG vs. Nebraska7-8/+17/Total +68.3: Meineke Car Care: South Florida (+170) wins as DOG vs. Clemson8-8/+11.5/Total +79.8: Sun: Notre Dame (+115) wins as DOG vs. Miami9-8/+21/Total +100.8: Liberty: UCF (+210) wins as DOG vs. Georgia10-8/+12/Total +112.8: Chick-Fil-A: FSU (+120) wins as DOG vs. South Carolina-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to those who often checked in. I was stunned to see each weekly blog received over 1,000 views and the Bowls pix blog received over 17,000 views. Maybe some of you were checking in to see who not to bet on, but I hoped some of the information helped.Enjoy the offseason -- and feel free to check out CBSSports.com's baseball coverage through the year as that is my primary job here.

Are you ready for the Bowl Season? First kickoff is less than 16 hours away.Even though I failed to defend my regular-season title among the experts, I look to bounce back with my bowl picks … but I have always struggled this time of year. You never know what team will show up; if a team is so bummed it's not playing in a bigger bowl (See Alabama) and isn't as focused as it should be.But below, I'm making my picks anyway. More importantly, I'd like to point out my underdog moneyline strategy, which I will keep an updated scorecard for on the comment part of this blog.The idea: Play the moneyline on the underdog for every bowl through Dec. 30. In the picks below, I list the moneyline in parentheses from scoresandodds.com.Ex: BYU over UTEP (+320) means, even though I'm picking BYU to win to help my standings vs. the experts, I'm suggesting to play UTEP at +320 to win outright. I will keep records for my picks and the underdog moneylines for all the games. But I don't like the underdog moneylines after Dec. 30.Some games won't have a +moneyline next to it, because there isn't one if the game is virtually a pick 'em.Before getting to my winners below, a quick reminder of the Expert Picks regular-season standings: Chip Patterson 236-68, Darst 234-70, me 230-74, Dodd 2227-77, Jacobi 225-79 & Horowitz 222-82.HANDICAPPINGAs for my regular-season suggestions, I finished 19-23-1. I know, not good, but we'll get three of them back on Day 1 as I like the lines on all three games (UTEP +11½, Northern Illinois -1½ & Ohio +2).There are a total of seven games I like. Add Central Florida +6½, Michigan State +9½, TCU-Wisconsin over of 58½ and Kentucky +3½.If there are any more that pop up, I'll post on the comment board of this blog.Good luck and have a happy holiday & bowl season.THE WINNERSSATURDAY, DEC. 18New Mexico:BYU over UTEP (+320) – Take the 11½ pointsHumanitarian: Northern Illinois over Fresno State (+114) – Lay the 1½New Orleans: Ohio (+110) over Troy – Take the 2 pointsTUESDAY, DEC. 21Beef O'Brady's:Southern Mississippi (+120) over Louisville